The times, they are a changin’. If 2022 marks the first time you are legally allowed to bet on the Super Bowl in you state, then welcome to the party! And isn’t that exactly what America is supposed to be doing on a Super Bowl Sunday? Having a party? I sure think so. So if you are new to the gambling/betting space, allow me to introduce you to a few different options you may have to try and win back the money spent on the pre-made seven layer dip you brought to your friends.
Whether it’s the game itself, the commercials, props or game-based pools, there is something for everyone. If you are in a new-legal state, great! If your state still doesn’t allow it? No fear, we have plenty of ideas to help you enjoy your game and party experience.
Betting on the Game
Many states across the country will now let you bet on the game from a mobile app from the comfort of your couch. Or you can go to one of the numerous casino-based sportsbooks nationwide and buy your tickets. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There will be over 2000 ways to bet the game at Caesars Sportsbook. So if you there’s something you expect to happen on Super Bowl Sunday like another OT or that rare safety or Aaron Donald sacking Joe Burrow, you can rest assured that you can bet on it.
1. You can bet on the side (which team has more points at the end of the game with the spread adjustment “+ points” for the underdog and “- points” for the favorite).
2. You can also bet on the number of combined points scored in the game. Each sportsbook will have a total posted and all you have to do is determine whether or not the final score will be over or under that specific number.
3. There is also a Player Prop Market which you can bet on. This market assigns a specific statistical threshold for every player in multiple categories, and you just have to bet whether or not you think that player will go over or under the specific threshold. For example, Rams WR Cooper Kupp has his market set at 8.5 receptions. Do you think he will have 9 or more catches (over) in the Super Bowl? Or do you think he will have 8 or fewer catches (under)? If you pick correctly, you win. For Super Bowl weekend, most books add cross-sport props, so if you Dustin Johnson will have more birdies than Ja’Marr Chase has receptions, those might be for you.
4. You can also wager on who will win the MVP of the game, who will score the first TD and who will win the 1st half. The options are wildly abundant.
Gamifying the Event
Outside of the game itself there are plenty of other entertainment props to have fun with that only happen on Super Bowl Sunday. You can turn any of the following into pools and games at your Super Bowl party.
Here are a few options to consider:
The National Anthem and coin toss
• How long will it take to sing the National Anthem?
• Which team will win the coin toss?
• Will it be heads or tails?
The commercials
The commercials are always a highlight of the Super Bowl, so why not have fun with them?
• Predict which company will have the most
• Predict length of each commercial
• Predict which commercial will receive the most critical acclaim
• Predict what celebrities will appear in each commercial
The halftime show
• How long will the halftime performance take?
• What order will the artists come out in?
• What songs will the artists perform at halftime?
The Gatorade dump
• What color will the Gatorade be that the winning team dumps on its coach? It was blue last year and orange five times in the last 16 years, most of any color.
Game-Based Pools
We’ve covered the game itself and some of entertainment props you can have fun with. What about pools? A great Super Bowl party is filled with fun game-related pools that don’t take skill… just fun and some luck. Here are some notable ones:
Squares Pool
This is, maybe, the most popular form of betting on the Super Bowl. One enterprising soul at your party will draw a neat board on a big poster with 100 squares on it (10 x 10). Then that person will assign one team to the columns and one team to the rows. Every participant gets to “buy” squares on the board.
Your party can determine the amount each square costs beforehand. Ultimately, you hope to fill all of the squares on the board. Players can buy as few or as many as they want. Having more squares is a larger investment, but a better opportunity to win. After the board is filled a digit 0-9 is assigned to the 10 rows and 10 columns. You can roll dice, draw numbers out of a hat, whatever way you’d like. Once the board is filled out… you can sit back and watch the game unfold.
At the end of each quarter, the person with the square that intersects the last digit in each team’s score, wins a percentage of the pot. You can break it up by 25% for each quarter or assign more money to final score, whatever house rules you want to set.
With so many different player prop options on the board, you can also create unique games and contests incorporating player props into the rules. For instance, making bingo cards for your guests with 24 different player prop outcomes randomly assigned to the card (plus the free square in the middle). As overs cash throughout the game you can cross those off. Of course, you have to wait until the end of the game to mark any unders that may be on the card.
You can have your guests pick their 10 favorite player props before the game starts and award the money to the person who has the most picked correctly once the game is over.
Super Bowl MVP pools
• Blindly draw names of players out of a hat, and whoever ends up drawing the MVP, wins
• OR you could “draft” players by determining an order of picking and allowing your guests to select which players they would like to have in their portfolio for the MVP of the Super Bowl.
• The person who is lucky enough to secure that first pick is obviously at a big advantage of being able to choose whichever player they want, both QBs included.
As you can see, there are almost limitless ways to make your Super Bowl experience more engaging — and potentially more profitable. No matter what you do, bring some cash (and hopefully a dish for the spread that you put a little time into) and have some fun.
Source: www.espn.com